Notes on System Models
Starting in the mid-late 1980's, most VAX systems were based on VAX
microprocessors (the exceptions were the VAX 9000 and all VAX 8xxx except
for the VAX 8200/8300 series). The microprocessors were:
- 78032 -- The first VAX microprocessor started shipping in 1985.
About equivalent in CPU performance to the original VAX-11/780.
In fact, at the time the 78032 was the first 32-bit microprocessor
with both memory management and floating point on a single chip.
It showed up in many system including the MicroVAX II and the VAX 8200.
- CVAX - Achieved from twice to four times the performance of 78032,
started shipping in 1988.
Used in VAXstation 3100s (except for model 76), the MicroVAX
3100 models 10[e] and 20[e], the VAX 4000 model 300,
and the VAX 6000 model 200 and 300.
- Rigel - about 9 times the 78032, started shipping in 1990. Used in
VAXstation 3100 model 76, the VAX 6000 model 400, the VAX 400 model
300, and the MicroVAX 3100 model 40.
- SOC (System On a Chip) -- about 6 times the 78032. Used in the
VAXstation 4000 model VLC and VAX 4000 model 300.
- Mariah - about 12 times the 78032, started shipping in 1991.
Used by the VAX 4000 model 60, MicroVAX 3100 model 8x,
and the VAX 6000 model 500
- NVAX - depending on the system, performance ranged from 16 times the 78032 to nearly 50 times. The last of VAX microprocessors and was in the fastest of all VAX systems, the VAX 7000 model 800. It was used in the VAX 6000 model 600, all VAX 7000 and VAX 10000 systems, all VAX 4000 systems except for the (already mentioned) models 200 and 300, MicroVAX 3100 model 9x, and VAXstation 4000 models 90, 90A, and 96.
Contents
These are a few of the many systems that NetBSD/vax supports.
CPU-specific support for the VAX-11/780 family of systems originates
from 4.4BSD, and was modified for NetBSD by Anders Magnusson.
Supported Hardware
The VAX-11/780 family is Digital's oldest VAX product, it
was initially announced in 1977. It includes the following models:
- VAX-11/780
- VAX-11/782 (Dual CPU version)
- VAX-11/784 (Quad CPU version, very unusual)
- VAX-11/785
- VAX-11/787 (Dual CPU version)
VAX-11/780-family systems may include none, one or more of the following
hardware:
- KA780 CPU (KA785 in 11/785)
- MA780 Multiport memory
- MS780 Memory
- RH780 Massbus adapter
- DW780 Unibus adapter
- CI780 Computer Interconnect adapter
- DR780 Interconnect adapter
- A front-end PDP 11/03 with RX01 floppy
NetBSD/vax does NOT support the following hardware on
11/780-family systems:
- CI780 Computer Interconnect adapter
- DR780 Interconnect adapter
- The front-end RX01 floppy
Because of lack of time and hardware to test and develop on, support for
these unsupported devices are unlikely to ever be written.
NetBSD/vax also supports devices that can be connected to both the Unibus
and Massbus, as described on the Massbus and
Unibus hardware support pages.
Known Bugs for the VAX-11/780 port:
- NetBSD/vax can only use one CPU on multi-CPU machines
CPU-specific support for the VAX-11/750 originates
from 4.4BSD, and was modified for NetBSD by Anders Magnusson.
Supported Hardware
The VAX-11/750 minicomputer was announced in 1981. It was sold as
a cheaper variant of the expensive VAX-11/780 systems.
VAX-11/750 systems may include none, one or more of the following hardware:
- KA750 CPU
- FP750 Floating point accelerator
- MA750 Multiport memory
- RH750 Massbus adapter
- DW750 Unibus adapter
- CI750 Computer Interconnect adapter
- A TU58 attached to the main CPU.
NetBSD/vax does NOT support the following hardware on 11/750 systems:
- CI750 Computer Interconnect adapter
Because of lack of time and hardware to test and develop on, support for
the CI750 is unlikely to ever be written.
NetBSD/vax also supports devices that can be connected to both the Unibus
and Massbus, as described on the Massbus and
Unibus hardware support pages.
Known Bugs for the VAX-11/750 port:
- The TU58 can only read tapes, and sometimes hangs the machine
when accessed.
CPU-specific support for the VAX 8600 family of systems originates
from 4.4BSD, and was modified for NetBSD by Anders Magnusson.
Supported Hardware
The VAX 8600 was announced in 1984 as a successor of the VAX-11/785.
It uses the same system bus as the VAX-11/780. The models are:
VAX 8600-family systems may include none, one or more of the following hardware:
- KA860
- RH780 Massbus adapter
- DW780 Unibus adapter
- CI780 Computer Interconnect adapter
- A front-end PDP 11 with RL02 disk
NetBSD/vax does NOT support the following hardware on
11/780-family systems:
- CI780 Computer Interconnect adapter
NetBSD/vax also supports devices that can be connected to both the Unibus
and Massbus, as described on the Massbus and
Unibus hardware support pages.
CPU-specific support for the VAX 8200 family of systems originates
from 4.4BSD, and was modified for NetBSD by Anders Magnusson.
Supported Hardware
The VAX 8200 family was announced in 1984. It was the low-end of
VAX systems to support the new BI bus.
The family includes the following models:
- VAX 8200
- VAX 8250 (dual-CPU)
- VAX 8300
- VAX 8350 (dual-CPU)
- VAXstation 8000
VAX 8200 family consists of a generic BI bus in which one or more CPU
are located. The only VAX 8200-specific device is a RX50 floppy
used as console media.
NetBSD/vax also supports devices that can be connected to the BI bus,
as described on the BI bus support page.
Known Bugs for the VAX 8200 port:
- NetBSD/vax can only make use of one CPU on multi-CPU machines
CPU-specific support for the MicroVAX II and MicroVAX III systems originates
from 4.4BSD. MicroVAX II was ported to NetBSD by Rick Macklem, and
MicroVAX III was ported by Anders Magnusson.
Supported Hardware
The MicroVAX II was based on the first one-chip VAX, the 78032.
It was the successor to the MicroVAX I. In fact, at the time the 78032
was the first 32-bit microprocessor with both memory management and
floating point on a single chip. MicroVAX III was the successor
of the MicroVAX II and was based on the CVAX (2nd generation) chip.
MicroVAX II and MicroVAX III systems may include none,
one, or more of the following hardware:
- KA630 CPU (MicroVAX II)
- KA650 CPU (MicroVAX III)
- Q bus adapter
- TK50 tape attached to the Q bus
- RX50 or RX33 floppy attached to the Q bus
- RD5x disk attached to the Q bus
NetBSD/vax also supports devices that can be connected to the Q-bus
as described on the Q-bus hardware support page.
Supported Hardware
The MicroVAX 3200, 3300, 3400 and 3500 have a motherboard with a Q bus
adapter attached to it. On the board the following devices may
be present:
- KA650 CPU (CVAX chip)
- LANCE ethernet controller
- SII DSSI adapter
- Q bus adapter
NetBSD/vax does NOT support the following hardware on
any MicroVAX 3200, 3300, 3400 and 3500 systems:
NetBSD/vax also supports devices that can be connected to the Q-bus
as described on the Q-bus hardware support page.
Known Bugs for the MicroVAX 3500 port:
- The kernel may not be able to boot on machines with too old
Microcode revision.
The MicroVAX 3600, 3800 and 3900 machines are very similar to the
MicroVAX III system, but they are in a quite different cabinet
and equipped with other hardware.
Supported Hardware
The MicroVAX 3600, 3800 and 3900 have a KA650(-variant) as their
CPU (CVAX).
MicroVAX II and MicroVAX III systems may include none,
one or more of the following hardware:
- KA650 CPU
- Q bus adapter
- TK70 tape attached to the Q bus.
- RA81 or RA82 disk attached to the Q bus.
NetBSD/vax also supports devices that can be connected to the Q-bus
as described on the Q-bus hardware support page.
Support for the VAXstation 2000 system was written by Bertram Barth.
Supported Hardware
The MicroVAX 2000 and VAXstation 2000 are the same machine, only
a strap inside the cabinet (and eventually absence/presence of
graphic card) differentiates the two machines.
A MicroVAX 2000 system includes the following hardware:
- KA410 CPU
- RX33 or RX50 floppy on HDC9224 controller chip.
- RD52, RD53 or RD54 disk on HDC9224 controller chip.
- TZK50 tape drive on NCR5380 SCSI controller
- LANCE AM7990 ethernet
- Monochrome, 4- or 8-bitplane color graphics
NetBSD/vax does NOT support the following hardware on
VAXstation 2000 systems:
- 4- or 8-bitplane color graphics
- Floppy on the HDC9224 controller chip.
Note!
Due to code cleanup, the floppy does not work on NetBSD-current.
Known Bugs for the MicroVAX 2000 port:
- The built-in RD5x disks are incredibly slow.
Other links for the MicroVAX 2000:
MicroVAX 3100 is a server system that uses a CPU similar
to the one in the 2000 machines.
Supported Hardware
The MicroVAX 3100 family can have different cache sizes and different
CPU speed, but are otherwise the same.
A MicroVAX 3100 system consists of:
- KA41 CPU
- LANCE AM7990 ethernet
- One internal and one external NCR5380 SCSI controller bus
- 4-line DZ11-like asynchronous serial line adapter
- 8-line asynchronous serial line adapter
NetBSD/vax does NOT support the following hardware on
MicroVAX 3100 systems:
- 8-line asynchronous serial line adapter
Known Bugs for the MicroVAX 3100 port:
VAXstation 3100 is a workstation system that in most cases
uses a CPU that is similar to the one in the 2000 machines.
VAXstation 3100/m76 CPU support was written by Bertram Barth.
Supported Hardware
The VAXstation 3100 series includes the following models:
- VAXstation 3100/m10
- VAXstation 3100/m20
- VAXstation 3100/m30
- VAXstation 3100/m38
- VAXstation 3100/m40
- VAXstation 3100/m48
- VAXstation 3100/m76
VAXstation 3100-family systems may include the following hardware:
- KA41, KA42, KA420 or KA43 CPU
- LANCE AM7990 ethernet
- 4-line DZ11-like asynchronous serial line adapter
- RX23, RX33 or RX50 floppy controller
- MFM disk controller (RDxx disks)
- One or two NCR5380 SCSI disk/tape controllers
- Monochrome, 4- or 8-bitplane color graphics
NetBSD/vax does NOT support the following hardware on
VAXstation 3100-family systems:
- 4- or 8-bitplane color graphics
Note!
Due to code cleanup support for MFM disks and floppy is lost.
This is supposed to be fixed.
CPU-specific support for the VAXstation 4000/VLC
was written by Michael Kukat.
Supported Hardware
The VAXstation 4000/VLC includes the following hardware:
- KA48 CPU
- LANCE AM7990 ethernet
- NCR53C94 SCSI controller
- LCG 4/8-bit color graphics controller
- 4-line DZ11-like asynchronous serial line adapter
- AMD 79C30 ISDN controller (audio only)
NetBSD/vax does NOT support the following hardware on
the VAXstation 4000/VLC system:
- LCG 4/8-bit color graphics controller
- AMD 79C30 ISDN controller (audio only)
CPU-specific support for the VAXstation 4000 model 60
was written by Anders Magnusson.
Supported Hardware
The VAXstation 4000 model 60 includes the following hardware:
- KA46 CPU
- LANCE AM7990 ethernet
- NCR53C94 SCSI controller
- LCG graphics controller
- 4-line DZ11-like asynchronous serial line adapter
- AMD 79C30 ISDN controller (audio only)
NetBSD/vax does NOT support the following hardware on
the VAXstation 4000 model 60 system:
- LCG graphics controller
- AMD 79C30 ISDN controller (audio only)
Known Bugs for the VAXstation 4000 model 60 port:
- Code to emulate the POLY{F,D,G,H} instructions is missing.
CPU-specific support for the MicroVAX 3100 model 80
was written by Anders Magnusson.
Supported Hardware
The MicroVAX 3100 model 80 includes the following hardware:
- KA47 CPU
- LANCE AM7990 ethernet
- NCR53C94 SCSI controller
- 4-line DZ11-like asynchronous serial line adapter
Known Bugs for the MicroVAX 3100 model 80 port:
- Code to emulate the POLY{F,D,G,H} instructions is missing.
CPU-specific support for the VAXstation 4000 model(s) 90,90A,96 system
was written by Anders Magnusson.
Supported Hardware
The VAXstation 4000 model 90 includes the following hardware:
- KA49 CPU
- SGEC Second Generation Ethernet Controller
- DZ-11-lookalike serial line controller
- NCR53C94 SCSI controller
- LCSPX color graphics
- AMD 79C30 ISDN controller (audio only)
- TURBOchannel extension
NetBSD/vax does NOT support the following hardware on
the VAXstation 4000 model 90 system:
- LCSPX color graphics
- AMD 79C30 ISDN controller (audio only)
- TURBOchannel extension
CPU-specific support for the VAX 4000/200 system
was written by Michael Kukat.
Supported Hardware
The VAX 4000/200 includes the following hardware:
- KA660 CPU
- SGEC Second Generation Ethernet Controller
- SHAC DSSI Disk controller
- Qbus adapter
NetBSD/vax does NOT support the following hardware on
the VAX 4000/200 system:
- SHAC DSSI Disk controller
CPU-specific support for the VAX 4000/300 system
was written by Michael Kukat.
Supported Hardware
The VAX 4000/300 includes the following hardware:
- KA670 CPU
- SGEC Second Generation Ethernet Controller
- SHAC DSSI Disk controller
- Qbus adapter
NetBSD/vax does NOT support the following hardware on
the VAX 4000/300 system:
- SHAC DSSI Disk controller
NetBSD/vax also supports devices that can be connected to the Q-bus
as described on the Q-bus hardware support page.
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